The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday released its monthly performance report for the telecom sector, which revealed that a total of 7.29 million MNP requests were made during October 2021. Out of the total MNP requests, 4.20 million requests were made in Zone-1, and the other 3.09 million requests came from Zone-2. For the unaware, Zone-1 is Northern and Western India while Zone-2 is Southern and Eastern India.
Maharashtra Has the Highest MNP Requests Till Date
Maharashtra, one of the most heavily populated states of the country present in the Zone-1, has the highest number of MNP requests recorded to date. A total of 53.36 million MNP requests have been made in Maharashtra so far. In Zone-1, the second region having the highest number of MNP requests is Uttar Pradesh-East (UP-East), which has seen around 47.24 million MNP requests being made. In Zone-2, Karnataka has the highest number of MNP requests made to date (about 50.89 million), followed by Andhra Pradesh (about 49.12 million). The Intra-service area Mobile Number Portability (MNP) was first implemented in the Haryana service area from November 25, 2010, and in the rest of the country from January 20, 2011. Since then, a total of 645.54 million MNP requests have been made. Out of this, 305.98 million MNP requests were made in the Zone-1, and 309.07 Map requests were made in Zone-2. With the MNP system in place, wireless telephone subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another. They can also retain their current mobile numbers in case they are porting out to another telecom network provider in the same service area. As compared to September 2021 (about 10.10 million MNP requests), in October 2021 (about 7.29 million MNP requests), lesser MNP requests were made, which is a healthy sign for the telecom sector. However, post the tariff hikes, the number of MNP requests should grow signficantly.
